Curated News: PNAS

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Immune diseases like multiple sclerosis and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis unleash destructive waves of inflammation on the body, causing death or a lifetime of illness and physical impairment. With safe and effective treatments in short supply, scientists report in PNAS Early Edition (Proceeding of the National Academy of Science) discovery of an experimental treatment that targets an Achilles heel of activated immune cells – killing them off and stopping autoimmune damage.

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Research from the Keck School of Medicine of USC indicates that in mice with a KRAS mutation, which is present in 90 percent of pancreatic cancer patients, expressing only half the amount of the glucose-regulated protein GRP78 is enough to halt the earliest stage of pancreatic cancer development. This results in delayed tumor development and prolonged survival.

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The carnivorous humped bladderwort plant, Utricularia gibba, is a sophisticated predator. It uses vacuum pressure to suck prey into tiny traps at speeds less than a millisecond. A new genomic analysis shows that, over millions of years, it repeatedly retained and enhanced genetic material associated with its carnivorous nature. These include genes that facilitate the trapping of prey, the digestion of proteins, and the transport of small bits of protein from one cell to another.

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Scientists at the Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center (PARC), an Energy Frontier Research Center, discovered a way that life could regulate solar energy transfer

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Tiny vesicles isolated from adult mesenchymal stem cells and administered intranasally can limit the damage to the brain of animal models caused by a seizure disorder called status epilepticus, according to research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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Our world seems to grow smaller by the day as biodiversity rapidly dwindles, but Mother Earth still has a surprise or two up her sleeve. An international team of researchers were the first to investigate a never before studied species a giant, black, mud dwelling, worm-like animal. The findings will be published online in the Apr. 17 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Everybody loves those rare “aha moments” where you suddenly and unexpectedly solve a difficult problem or understand something that had previously perplexed you. But until now, researchers had not had a good way to study how people actually experienced what is called “epiphany learning.”

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When water comes in for a landing on the common catalyst titanium oxide, it splits into hydroxyls just under half the time. Water's oxygen and hydrogen atoms shift back and forth between existing as water or hydroxyls, and water has the slightest advantage, like the score in a highly competitive tennis game.

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The sensory system in fish fins evolves in parallel to fin shape and mechanics, and is specifically tuned to work with the fish’s swimming behavior, according to new research from the University of Chicago. The researchers found these parallels across a wide range of fish species, suggesting that it may occur in other animals as well.

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Scientists built a new device that shows what happens when electrode, electrolyte, and active materials meet in energy storage technologies.

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Whitehead Institute scientists have identified a gene that could help clinicians discern which patients have aggressive forms of early stage breast cancer, which could prevent hundreds of thousands of women from undergoing unnecessary treatment and save millions of dollars.

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A new energy-efficient separation of rare earth elements could provide a new domestic source of critical materials.

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New research by Professor Beth Shapiro of the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute and University of Alberta Professor Duane Froese has identified North America’s oldest bison fossils and helped construct a bison genealogy establishing that a common maternal ancestor arrived between 130,000 and 195,000 years ago, during a previous ice age.

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Due to increasing globalization, the linguistic landscape of our world is changing; many people give up use of one language in favour of another, a phenomenon called language shift. Katharina Prochazka and Gero Vogl from the University of Vienna have studied why language shift happens using the example of southern Carinthia, Austria. Making use of methods originally developed in diffusion physics to study the motion of atoms, they built a model for the spread and retreat of languages over time and space. With this model, they were able to show that interaction with other speakers is the main factor influencing whether language shift occurs. The interdisciplinary study is published in the journal PNAS.

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Scientists and lawyers speak different languages, but there is common ground. Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists working in a multi-institutional team with legal authorities have discovered that brain imaging can determine whether someone is acting in a state of knowledge about a crime.

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New research from Michigan State University indicates that embryonic tissue, key to the development of a baby’s gender, could contribute to an enlarged prostate, or BPH, in men later in life.

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When measuring time, we normally assume that clocks do not affect space and time, and that time can be measured with infinite accuracy at nearby points in space. However, combining quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of general relativity theoretical physicists from the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Sciences have demonstrated a fundamental limitation for our ability to measure time. The more precise a given clock is, the more it "blurs" the flow of time measured by neighbouring clocks. As a consequence, the time shown by the clocks is no longer well defined. The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

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A Northwestern University and W.M. Keck Science Department of Pitzer, Claremont McKenna and Scripps colleges study suggests it was the power of the eyes and not the limbs that first led our aquatic ancestors to make the leap from water to land. The researchers discovered that eyes nearly tripled in size before -- not after -- the water-to-land transition. Crocodile-like animals saw easy meals on land and then evolved limbs that enabled them to get there, the researchers argue.

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A new analysis by the University of Washington and Simon Fraser University is the first to document that "black swan" events also occur in animal populations and usually manifest as massive, unexpected die-offs.

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Using red blood cells modified to carry disease-specific antigens, scientists from Whitehead Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital have prevented and alleviated two autoimmune diseases—multiple sclerosis (MS) and type 1 diabetes—in early stage mouse models.

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Understanding interactions among organisms in complex microbial communities sheds new light on a globally significant environmental process.

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Microscopic understanding offers fresh directions for discovering new materials to transmit energy without loss.

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The incredible complexity of how genes, proteins and cells interact to create tissue drives the work of biomedical scientists around the world. Now, a pair of mathematicians has introduced a new way of thinking about these concepts that may help set the stage for better understanding of our bodies and other living things.

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Understanding how brown rot fungi degrade wood could lead to new tools for more efficient biofuel production.

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A tiny snail may offer an alternative to opioids for pain relief. Scientists at the University of Utah have found a compound that blocks pain by targeting a pathway not associated with opioids. Research in rodents indicates that the benefits continue long after the compound have cleared the body.

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New model reveals the significant role of microbes in oceanic nutrient and energy cycling. The results of this work significantly improve the crude models of microbial activity in important oceanic zones and provide holistic insights into how microbes drive nutrient and energy flow.

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An international team of scientists used an X-ray laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to determine the structure of an insect virus’s crystalline protein “cocoon.”

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Emotions are not innately programmed into our brains, but, in fact, are cognitive states resulting from the gathering of information, New York University Professor Joseph LeDoux and Richard Brown, a professor at the City University of New York, conclude.

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Many genetic mutations have been linked to Type 2 diabetes, but no clear genetic signature has emerged. Now, new results may explain how multiple genetic flaws can lead to the same disease: They seem to change the way certain cells in the pancreas “read” their genes.

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Evolution is often thought of as a gradual remodeling of the genome, the genetic blueprints for building an organism. But in some instance it might be more appropriate to call it an overhaul. Over the past 100 million years, the human lineage has lost one-fifth of its DNA, while an even greater amount was added, report scientists at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Until now, the extent to which our genome has expanded and contracted had been underappreciated.

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A recent study led by scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory helps describe how uranium cycles through the environment at former uranium mining sites and why it can be difficult to remove.

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In a new paper published this week in PNAS, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center, in collaboration with colleagues at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, the University of Colorado School of Medicine and SignalRx, a San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company, describe a potential new class of anti-cancer drugs that inhibit two or more molecular targets at once, maximizing therapeutic efficiency and safety.

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Malaria is still a global scourge, killing mostly children in tropical regions. Developing an affordable vaccine that can stay stable without refrigeration is a challenge. Now, a Weizmann Institute lab has reprogrammed proteins in such a way that they could lead to an inexpensive vaccine that can be stored at room temperature.

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In the microbial world, vitamin B12 is a hot commodity. It turns out that vitamin B12, a substance produced by only a few organisms but needed by nearly all of them, wields great power in microbial communities – ubiquitous structures that affect energy and food production, the environment, and human health.

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HHMI scientists develop a much-needed genetic resource that is aiding development of wheat plants with improved traits.

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Unbalanced signaling by two molecules that regulate breathing leads to sleep apnea in mice and rats. Injection of a substance that reduces production of one of those signals can prevent apneas. This approach may help people suffering from multiple forms of sleep-disordered breathing.

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A Northwestern University study of how jet lag affects Major League Baseball players traveling across just a few time zones found that when players travel in a way that misaligns their internal 24-hour clock with the natural environment and its cycle of sunlight, they suffer negative consequences. The researchers found that jet lag negatively affects the base running of home teams but not away teams and that home and away pitchers both give up more home runs when jet-lagged.

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A synthesized steroid mirroring one naturally made by the dogfish shark prevents the buildup of a lethal protein implicated in some neurodegenerative diseases, reports an international research team studying an animal model of Parkinson’s disease. The clustering of this protein, alpha-synuclein (α-synuclein), is the hallmark of Parkinson’s and dementia with Lewy bodies, suggesting a new potential compound for therapeutic research.

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Microbes can persist in people for years after an illness, even in people who are healthy and immune to recurrence. Now, researchers have found a clue to this seeming paradox: Persistent microbes are constantly multiplying and being killed, keeping the immune system prepared for any new encounters.

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New crystallography finding benefits bioenergy industry.

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Once released into the environment, radioactive materials pose risks. Scientists found that a protein that binds radioactive elements, such as plutonium. This discovery could lead to new ways to clean a contaminated area.

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A large and growing body of research shows that poor kids grow up to have a host of physical problems as adults.

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Experimenting with human cells and mice, Johns Hopkins researchers have found that a genetic mutation that alters a protein called NOD1 may increase susceptibility to human cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. CMV is a common pathogen that infects almost 60 percent of adults in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and can lead to devastating developmental defects in fetuses and severe disease in people with weakened immune systems.

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In a paper published online Dec. 7 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of Washington researchers report on a statistical approach called "tree bootstrapping" can help social scientists study hard-to-reach populations like drug users.

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The chronic lung inflammation that is a hallmark of cystic fibrosis, has, for the first time, been linked to a new class of bacterial enzymes that hijack the patient’s immune response and prevent the body from calling off runaway inflammation, according to a laboratory investigation led by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

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It has been 20 years since Dolly the sheep was successfully cloned in Scotland, but cloning mammals remains a challenge. A new study by researchers from the U.S. and France of gene expression in developing clones now shows why most cloned embryos likely fail.

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The naming of colors has long been a topic of interest in the study of human culture and cognition — revealing the link between perception, language, and the categorization of the natural world. A major question in the study of both anthropology and cognitive science is why the world’s languages show recurrent similarities in color naming. Linguists at Yale tracked the evolution of color terms across a large language tree in Australia in order to trace the history of these systems.

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The fine art of mixing drug cocktails is incredibly complicated, with virtually infinite numbers of possible interactions and side effects. Now, a new model from the Weizmann Institute lab of Prof. Uri Alon lets scientists compare combinations of drugs to determine efficacy – a major step forward in personalized medicine.

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In our recent study, we identified 19 “new” pieces of DNA — left by retroviruses that first infected our ancestors’ germlines hundreds of thousands of years ago –lurking between our own genes.

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Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a novel strategy to reprogram cells from one type to another in a more efficient and less biased manner than previous methods.